Abstract
In assessing user response to cost and service changes, demand elasticities are useful tools. Current compilations of demand elasticities, however, are not helpful to scheduled transportation operators. The reason is that the range of an elasticity is too big, and there is no practical guideline to pick an appropriate value within the range. Furthermore, they are often compiled for system wide and average day operations, while most analyses need to be performed on a route by route basis during peak or off peak periods. This paper presents a methodology to address this problem, with the objective of providing demand elasticities that are practical for patronage analyses in an operating agency.